If you want some lessons on covering pens with polymer clay, check out this page at my site (...they can be really simple to do, or difficult, just depending on what kinds of patterns, onalys, etc, you want to use):http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/pens.htm

As for getting them really smooth, I also like to roll each pen under a sheet of glass or acrylic as the final step before baking (...I actually angle the glass sheet so it rests on the pen and on the edge of the table at the same time while rolling, so that the edge of the table will keep the glass perfectly even across the whole pen). For extra smoothness, sanding and buffing are an option too.

the only thing is it doesn't have pictures showing how to do things you described. I'm more a visual person.

Actually, I think most people are visual that way!

There were more visuals in links on the Pens page at my site, but I've moved some of them now to the basic Covering subcategory, and also looked up some new ones that have recently been added to sites like sculpey.com and michaels.com, etc.

That should give you a quick visual on the basic procedure for covering pens... just ignore any parts of the lessons that deal with how to make fancier sheets, etc., for covering.http://www.glassattic.com/polymer/pens.htm